Attached File
Attached File


I bought this can of ammo last year at an estate sale and I’m having a difficult time figuring out certain markings. I know it’s 550 rounds on stripper clips for the Type 56 SKS, but I don’t know which sequence of numbers denotes date of manufacture.

It’s obviously steel core and almost certainly corrosive as hell, as I’ve shot many thousands of this ammo back in the early 90s when a case of two tins was a hundred bucks or so.  I figure this stuff is good ‘World gone to hell, pull tab’ ammo for an SKS or AK.

Long-story short, the ammunition in the can was manufactured in 1975 at PLA Factory 31, Lot 83.  The powder used to load the cases was manufactured in 1973 at PLA Powder Factory 25, Lot 104.  Good luck.

Thanks!

Now why couldn’t the Chinese have written all of that in English?

emmetf is correct.

and

The Chinese characters basically say what you already know.

From memory, since all of my cartridge reference material has been passed on to other collectors:

line 1 - steel case (steel core ball), 2/1 powder type

line 2 - 56 type  (Type 56, referring to their designation for the 7.62x39mm cartridge)

line 3 - 550 quantity (in clips)